ALMO tenants to be balloted on transfer
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Tenants of a north east arm’s-length management organisation will be asked whether their homes should be transferred to a housing association.
Stockton Council will ballot tenants of Tristar Homes on whether the organisation should become a not for profit company with charitable status and take ownership of the homes from the council.
Tristar is one of three ALMOs which has had its plans for transfer so far approved by the government.
Transfer would allow Tristar to borrow from banks, free it from handing over a portion of its tenant rents to Whitehall under the housing revenue account subsidy system, and possibly give it some government funding. It would use the money to help it maintain the decent homes standard beyond the 2010 deadline and improve services. It would spend £600 million on upgrades to homes and provision of services over the next 30 years.
The organisation plans to install double glazed windows and doors and upgraded kitchens and bathrooms where they are needed. It also plans to change the repairs, out-of-hours appointments, anti-social behaviour and the handy person service for older tenants services.
The council is currently consulting tenants on the proposals and a ballot is planned for May or June.
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Readers' comments (3)
john harrington | 08/03/2010 1:35 pm
Why are the tenants not being offered the option of transferring to a Housing Co-operative?
This is a far better option than a housing association. They will then own their own houses collectivly, and have democratic control of them. The costs will be lower and they will not be in the thrawl of nanny state directors, who will run it in the way they think is in the best interests of tenants. rather than what the tenants actually want.
There are some excellent examples of housing Co-operatives in the UK, USA and Europe.
Lets at least give the tenants a REAL choice.
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brian hepple | 30/03/2010 1:52 am
Teesside residents are foolish if they support the privatisation..Tristar and the local council are spending a fortune on promoting the idea that privatisation is the only option , deliberately turning a blind eye to the many negatives for tenants.
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Iain Smith | 16/04/2010 1:50 pm
Although I reside in Scotland you may be interested to hear, that my rent will be raied by 80% by my social landlord Aberdeenshire Housing Partnership. The house next door was not tranfered and I will pay £200 more amonth for my rent.
Iain
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